Chapter 191 - A Story of Mayday!
For several days after the electricity was restored, peaceful days passed without anything happening. There was no information on sightings of infected or rioters, and the work of building walls for the defense of the landfill also proceeded steadily. The hostility of the residents toward the former members also weakened, and an explosive situation was avoided.
The fact that electricity became usable would be one of the major factors. Until now, because electricity could not be used freely, they have led various inconvenient lives. But now they can take a shower and enter a bath. They can even lead a life with peace of mind by watching movies and such in their spare time, and the life with electricity is bringing positive effects.
Because they are performing solar power generation, they were also able to save precious gasoline and kerosene. Since fuel is prioritized for moving vehicles, not having to use gasoline for heating or lighting contributed greatly to the saving of supplies. Although there are electric trucks and commercial vans brought out from the Brotherhood's base, because of problems with cruising range and load capacity, after all, it is necessary to use conventional internal combustion engine vehicles to transport a large amount of supplies. Although gasoline was brought out from the Brotherhood's base along with a tank truck, it is better to be able to save it.
That day too, the boy, who engaged in the wall construction mission, had washed off his sweat in the shower and was heading to the food court, which is the distribution place for meals. Recently, the food situation has also improved, and although it centers on preserved food, meals with sufficient nutritional value have come to be provided. Because the residents are also contributing vegetables and such that they had been growing for tribute to the Brotherhood until now, the amount of meals has also increased.
I wonder what today's meal is, the boy was looking forward to dinner. After all, the daily pleasure is food. Being able to enjoy a meal means that there is that much leeway in the heart.
"Ah, there you are! Please come to the security room quickly!"
At a place where he would turn one more corner to reach the food court, the boy was called out by someone from behind. It was Han, with an automatic rifle hanging from his shoulder.
"Eh? But dinner from now..."
"Sato-san is calling. He says it's an urgent matter."
"But the meal..."
"Just come."
His arm was grabbed by Han, and he was forcibly dragged toward the security room. He was just about to get his hands on dinner. The boy's stomach growled, and the feeling of hunger increased further.
When the boy reached the security room led by Han, several people including Sato had already gathered and were making grim faces in front of the amateur radio. Fushimi, gripping the microphone of the radio, was asking something.
"What happened?"
"There were survivors who communicated the other day, right? They are being attacked by a swarm of infected and are seeking help."
"Well, that's an emergency."
Sato had already prepared his equipment. Fushimi exchanges some words with the survivors via radio and faces Sato.
"He says he wants us to come help right now. The vehicle crashed and is immobilized, he said they are going to evacuate to a nearby building and the communication cut off."
"Are they really seeking rescue? Is it not a trap to lure us out?"
Chiba made a suspicious face, but Fushimi shakes his head. And he played the contents of the conversation he said he had been recording until just now.
'Please, rescue quickly! There are many children here, and moving on our own is impossible! The vehicle is broken and won't move... Damn it, they've come!'
The young man's voice was certainly familiar. It was the man who was the leader of the former education students who was leading many children and had come as far as this vicinity the other day. In the background, sporadic gunshots and the crying of children can be heard. I see, the story that they are leading children must be true. If you listen carefully, sounds like the roars of infected can also be heard.
'Please help! Our location is—'
Chiba spreads the map and looks for the place the man told them. It is inside the city area, about 25 kilometers away from here. Their car broke down near a building there, and they reportedly fled into the building. Was the radio loaded in the abandoned car, as there is no response no matter how much we call out from here.
"The reason I had everyone gather is none other than to deliberate on how to respond to this rescue request."
The playback of the recording finished, and Sato opened his mouth. In the security room, members of the representative class of each group, such as residents and former members, had gathered. Since a democratic system is taken here, it is decided that things are decided by everyone when a problem occurs. But in such an emergency, the squad leaders of the squads divided into several people each had gathered to decide on the response.
"By how to respond, you mean whether to go for rescue or abandon them, right?"
Aki, the leader of the teenage girls' group, opened her mouth, and Sato nodded.
"The situation does not allow for a moment's delay. Their weapons are scarce, and there are few people who can fight. If we don't decide on a response right now, they likely won't last long."
"Well, it's decided that we help. Although, it's not something we who can't fight directly can say grandly..."
The representative of the residents, who were originally in the landfill, opened his mouth. Most of them are middle-aged or elderly, and compared to the former members who center on young people, they are inferior in both physical strength and motor ability, and above all, they have no full-scale combat experience. It can be seen that they would be a hindrance if taken along.
If so, the ones who would be the fighting force are the former members, but they too were making grim faces.
"We want to help them too... but if we help them, won't the consumption of supplies become faster?"
Even though the amount of supplies brought out from the Brotherhood's base is large, even so, the current prediction was that they would run out in 3 months with the current number of people. If nearly 20 people were accepted there, even if they are mostly children, the consumption speed will increase further. It was natural for the members to be concerned.
"Besides, the city at night is dangerous. Even if we go now, we don't know if we can help."
"Yeah. Maybe it's already..."
In the first place, there's no need to head to the city area where there are many infected and expose our own lives to danger for the sake of people whose names and faces we don't know. No one put it into words, but they had eyes that seemed to want to say that. It might be too late even if we went. If so, it would be better to act as if we heard nothing here and lead the same life as before—.
"No, let's go help."
While no one said anything and the atmosphere was becoming one of abandoning the rescue request, one of the former members opened his mouth. He was one of those who was saved by the boy when the Brotherhood's base was destroyed by a swarm of infected at that time.
"We too are able to live like this now because he came to help even by exposing his own body to danger. Can we, who are like that, abandon them here because our own bodies will become endangered?"
The boy, who had not expected to hear such words from those who were in that Brotherhood, was staring at that former member with eyes of surprise. As if to sympathize with him, people saying "We should go for rescue" raise their hands as if a dam had burst. In the end, the opinion to go for rescue occupied the majority, and it was decided to head to the survivors.
Sato, the boy, Chiba, and several former members were chosen for the rescue unit. Even if the survivors are rescued, there is a possibility of being pursued by infected after that. It is also necessary to strengthen the defense near the landfill just in case, and many people cannot be sent for rescue.
"Alright, everyone in the rescue unit go to the warehouse below to get guns. Suppressed ones. You handle sniper support."
The survivors were thought to be completely surrounded by infected, and a fierce battle was expected. The boy was entrusted with the role of supporting Sato's main unit with sniping from a nearby building, and the boy picked up a suppressed automatic rifle at the armory that was a modified first-floor warehouse.
It was the M1 Rifle that the boy had previously obtained and used, with a handmade suppressor attached. He had left it behind when he escaped with Sato after the Brotherhood attacked the safe house, but the Brotherhood had recovered it and thrown it into their armory, and he had taken it back. The adjustment of the scope is already finished.
What is required this time was not precise sniping, but safely eliminating infected from a distance. Therefore, even if the hit accuracy was slightly inferior, a rifle with rapid-fire capability was more suitable. If sniping like passing through a needle hole from a long distance was necessary, Sato might have handled the sniper, but this time Sato was the leader of the main unit that would storm into the building where the survivors fled and rescue them.
He also prepares spare magazines, handguns, flares, wires for traps, and such, and quickly puts them on. The equipment that gathered those was heavily weighted, but for the current boy, it was not much of a problem.
In preparation for when the rescue unit returns, besides those who were on watch duty, emergency call-ups are also issued to the residents who were sleeping. While rubbing their sleepy eyes, they start making food to welcome the protected children, or head toward the watchtower with unfamiliar guns as support.
"Hurry up!"
Inside the wall where a defense base was constructed after crossing the suspension bridge connecting the landfill and the land, several vehicles had already completed preparations for movement. For this rescue, power is needed and cars that can run on rough roads are necessary, so the usual electric vehicles cannot be used.
Instead, a minivan of a hybrid car that can perform electric driving if it is at low speed was to be used. The minivan had all seats except the driver's and passenger's seats removed for the transport of supplies and personnel, and was modified so that it could carry more people than the capacity. Because there are no seats, the riding comfort will be the worst, but since nearly 20 people must be rescued this time, there is no other means. They wouldn't be in a situation where they can complain.
The boy threw in his backpack filled with equipment and then rolled into the cargo area from the slide door that was left open. Before the door closed, Chiba in the driver's seat started the car, and the convoy heads toward the wall that separates the safe zone centered on the landfill from the outside.
Several self-defense group members waiting at the wall open the large double-door iron gate, opening a gap enough for one vehicle to pass. Passing through there, there is one more door ahead. To suppress the risk of intrusion from the outside, doors were provided in duplicate. The outer sliding iron door opens, and several minivans start running into the city at night while emitting a slight motor sound, without even turning on the headlights.